oh I am sorry to hear about that with your neck also.
OK, I have multi level HNPS and bone spurs at C2-3-4, the same awful neck muscle tightness from my neck down into my shoulders and trapeziod muscles too.
i was offered neck nerve blocks but felt the doctors down here are not worth their salt and make too many mistakes so this is not an area i want any more mistakes made on me, they messed up the operation once already on my posterior neck fusion which left me with lots of pain that doesnt go away, so i research every doc who wants to do work on me and see if there have been any closed med mal suits on them and for what.
I have some serious trust issues here. I will not deny that.
You would be surprised but down here in florida, docs can practice medicine with out having ins, all they have to do is put a 10x8 sign in the patient's waiting room stating they do not carry ins, that is giving notice to people.
i went to my pm doc, he wanted to install a tens unit subcuetanously and put in leads into my neck & shoulders and have a battery at my waist that gets recharged from the outside. it is made by medtronic the same people who make the spinal pain pump.
this guy told me he has only done 50 of them. sorry, if he told me he has done hundreds i would have said ok.
i am not going to be a ginea pig for anymore docs to get their practice on and then have a uh oh....
so for while i considered that but then rejected that idea. now, i never heard about botox injections in the muscles before so i may inquire about that, i was wondering why they dont bring this stuff up to me. they like to push the expensive stuff so they can make some money.
so for now it is meds and some PT here and there. Tomorrow I am having an MRI C spine done with contrast to check the status on the bones in my neck.
then i have an appt with a top level surgeon Oct 1 to have him look at it all and see if they can take out some of this metal posterior and fill it in with bone cement instead.
if they can do this, and take off some of the bone spurs, maybe i can get some relief. it is a major op, i would have to go to rehab after as i have no one here to help me.
but i feel at this point i have to try to do something, just want it done by someone top level is all. which he is, he worked on James Brown the former black entertainer pop singer, and has installed artifical disc in the lumbar region. I may take a chance on him. I have to get over some of these trust issues i have that could be holding me back for better treatment. This is part of my problem also.
I just dont have the supports available to me family wise which hurts.
AND i do not want to made WORSE either. These are my choices i ahve to live with. But i am not getting any younger, so i feel time is marching on, and having an op now VS. in 3-5 yrs from now, maybe i ought to get going and do it now rather than later when my recovery might be worse.
